3 Weddings & a Hangover

27 days later & I feel exhausted.

I would first like to congratulate 6 of our favorite people in this beautiful world:

To Jeremy & Bonni, Scott & Melissa, Carl & Megan, may the knots you have recently tied be eternal and wonderfully fulfilling. To our lifelong family members, Jeremy, Scott & Megan, cheers to you! We could not be more excited about your newfound happiness. To our newest kin, we can selfishly say that we are excited to have you in OUR lives and look forward to celebrating life with you and yours’ for a long time coming. You are all such remarkable and beautiful people that we care for, admire and think of often.

OK, enough of the sentimental. The days between August 13 & September 9 were like a weekend bender that wouldn’t stop. {sigh} If there was such thing as a month-long party, we just now cleaned off the hand stamp that got us in to the thing! Our itinerary was well known months ago, even before we departed in February we had return flights booked for this monumental reunion marathon. It served Stacy & I as a marker to look forward to as we traversed the rivers & waterfalls of New Zealand, the rice paddies of Vietnam and the sands of the Sahara. We knew our on-the-move lifestyle would not be going anywhere, even though we were in fact ‘going home’.

Dad & Sonja grabbed us at LAX with welcoming smiles and hugs! We were home!! We returned to the US of A, and would laugh and look at one another with a smirk when someone would ask us, “So, where are you staying while you’re back?” “Uhhh…see that silver truck over there with the shell? That’s where.” It was a 4 week road trip not for the feint hearted, but with Emma dog by our side we were living it up and speeding full speed ahead.

First, a monumental Bachelor/Bachelorette weekend plopped us right back into our old reality with so many of the friends we had yearned to reconnect with for 6 months. It was truly a case of men vs women. Scottie’s boys went to the mountains of Bishop, CA for a rustic male bonding getaway and Melissa’s ladies partied their arses off in the new Vegas, Palm Springs! I’ve seen the photos and YES, there was a slightly different dynamic, but NO they did not have more fun than us. BBQs vs Pizza Deliveries? Horseshoes vs Disco Dancing? Rushing Rivers vs Bulging Plastic Penis Straws? C’mon. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed those darn Miller Lites!

Stacy & I reunited for a drive North through SF (Hi & goodbye to Momma C., Shawn-O, Jamers, Leslie & Pilger!) then to southern Oregon where we found out that the California drought had certainly spread across state lines. Too bad. It was beautiful however and Jer & Bonni’s property (doubling as wedding site) was awe-inspiring. Natural beauty engulfed us in the countryside just south of Grant’s Pass. We met so many great people and Stacy was reunited with friends from the 90s. Oh, and the wedding? It was the perfect setting for 2 great people. It felt a lot like the site of our wedding and brought back lots of goose bumps.

3 days in Ruch, OR and we were back in the truck with Emma looking at us like, Where is my home anyways? Redwoods, Radiohead (for Stacy anyways!) and rural scenic routes got us to San Luis Obispo, where Emma and I played with Coop and Abby (Abdominals) for a few days before Wedding #2. Scott & Melissa’s spot at the Cliffs of Pismo was breathtaking. The fog cleared and left us groomsmen (Stew, Mikey & I) with sunny ocean views and diving pelicans all around. The dance party was definitely alcohol-enhanced (for me at least) and it was as if my new Thursday, Friday, Saturday routine was in full swing. I’m getting the hang of this wedding thing!

With hangover slightly subdued by a bagel sammich, Stace and Emma joined me in saying our goodbyes to Cooper David and Sara. Congratulations to the Apobeks!! Our drive took us south to east county San Diego and to the Drolets!! Can it be that we have partied for 2 weeks so far and barely seen a single Drolet (Hi Mom!)? What do we have in store for us! Hope Stacy can re-fuel on the 5 freeway! Dad & Sonja’s lunch in Pasadena helped a lot and we got to see Stephanie Marie too! To be honest, our stress was catching up to us a bit and Emma was the lucky one who got to watch the wife and I work through some stuff. We got to Jeff & Caitlin’s baby shower (Yes, Jeffrey Patrick is having a baby boy!!) before dark and somehow our energy was able to peak for just long enough to make the rounds with everyone at Aunt Nancy & Uncle Tim’s and watch El Jefe open like 100 gifts for Mr. Zachary!

We spent some time with Kevin & Judy poolside in San Marcos and Judy hemmed my wedding pants. What a lifesaver! A trip to the tailor at this point would have been “Ugg!” Another bachelor party, this time for Carlito, found us paying to BBQ our own steaks in the Gaslamp and mouthing the words to Lemmie’s Motorhead lyrics at the House of Blues. That dude is amazing! Lots of family bonding this week was really great. I do realize however, that my ability to cope with the go go go nature of these gatherings has diminished. Phew, I really do need a some silence one of these days!

Carl & Megan’s wedding was a Friday wedding and came on a beautiful and equally hot weekend on Coronado Island. It too was a picureqsue location and my forehead burn told the whole story! I got to spend some really good QT with Jeffrey among others. Uncles Frank and Kevin were good times too! Stacy, Jeff & I had one wacky interlude with a SheMan tranny looking to make a phone call, uhhh, sure. Megan looked amazing and Carl is one handsome sonofabiatch! Dinner turned into dancing and drunkenness for the group. The wedding technically ended at 11:30pm, but the after parties could not be contained. Not even by Coronado’s PD! At one point I looked around as about 40 of us stood in the back parking lot of the hotel and thought, damn, this is some tailgate party! And its 2am!

Saturday was a much-needed ‘down’ day and no, Mom & Aunt Nancy, we would not be able to make it to the El Cajon Pool Party this day. Sorry. Instead we rested for a split second before driving up to meet our new pals from Vietnam (actually from Cali) Louise & Walid, in San Clemente. Even though there were no jackets to be fitted for and no dates for ping pong (SE Asia references), we picked up right where we had left off.

The last order of business for me, besides packing and getting back to vacation, from our vacation…from our vacation, was to enjoy the Chargers home opener with the homies. An early tailgate party followed a long night a JD’s prior. The Chargers looked flat and then got the rug pulled out from under them with 2 seconds left! Damn! My Fantasy Squad similarly got burned when my Tom Brady went down for the season in the first quarter of his game. Aghhhhhh!

I said goodbye to the guys and found Stacy busting her butt in Encinitas to get us ready to depart again. She had gone shopping, organized our goods and most importantly for my well being, she was taking some of her OWN time to recover. 7 months ago we had spent weeks slowly prepping our packs. This departure did not allow for such planning so one Monday spent throwing things together for the remains of summer and the ensuing autumn found us checking mighty heavy bags to Athens. Mom & Pop were going with us to Skopelos this time which was great news. And it wasn’t too bad to be going BACK to Greece after all! We did have to leave Emma one more time, this time with a new experimental human food diet. Coop, I hope all goes well. And thank you so much! Dad & Sonja too!

Now we are back on the road with only us and our minimal gear. A few notes on our calendar for the near future but otherwise our itineraries are clear. Ah, off to Europe. I haven’t even had any time to think about it yet!!